To play Princess Tamina, Gemma Arterton, shown at the Prince of Persia premiere, got toned and did her own stunts. "I ended up with cuts and scrapes all over me."

By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

It's one thing for Gemma Arterton to look glam for a movie premiere. It's a whole other thing to look glam while death-defyingly sliding under a large gate before it closes, Indiana Jones-style.

The British actress never thought she could pull off being an action heroine in a movie, but all that stage fighting and stunt work she did at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art pays off in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (in theaters now). Based on the video-game series, the action adventure casts Arterton as Princess Tamina, who has sided with Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) against bad guys attempting to steal a magic dagger and destroy the world.

"I never imagined myself ending up in those roles," Arterton, 24, says of Tamina and Io, her character in the recent film Clash of the Titans. "Hollywood movies are quite hard to get into when you don't live in the States and you're just a British nobody. I always imagined myself doing period costume dramas in the British sense, or gritty kitchen sink dramas."

Arterton broke out as Strawberry Fields in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace two years ago. Being a Bond girl, however, didn't prepare her for jumping onto a horse mid-gallop — "I made sure I looked over my shoulder when I got on the horse because I trained for two weeks to do that," Arterton says proudly — or channeling Harrison Ford while rolling under a falling gate.

"I wasn't wearing many clothes, and I ended up with cuts and scrapes all over me because I was skidding across the floor. You don't think about that usually — that's why you have stunt doubles, because they can bruise themselves up.

"They usually have eight versions of the same costume just in case you spill something down it or you rip it in an action sequence, so we had to keep changing it!"

She and Gyllenhaal bonded while filming their many stunts and working out with personal trainers to look the part of action heroes. Arterton had never seen so much toned muscle on her curvy frame.

"I'm not really into that sort of look myself. For the character, it was right, but for me, I just saw it as another thing I had to do to prepare for the role. I definitely prefer the softer, more feminine look, so I went back to my usual shape after the role."

Arterton pays close attention to the clothes she puts on that body. She has her own style — "I would describe it as European grunge" — and it's one she has fostered since growing up in Kent, 40 miles from London. She couldn't wait to relocate to the big city once she turned 18. "I moved into this tiny little flat that was underground and dank and damp, and it had one tiny little window. It was like a prison cell, but I was so happy to be in London, I didn't care."

She says music has often informed her fashion choices. The life-long Radiohead fan has had her punk days and a Goth period, and she lives for hard rock and metal.

Arterton relishes her relative anonymity, even in England, which allows her to rock out at music festivals and concerts without causing a celebrity ruckus.

"Maybe one day I won't be able to live such a free life as I have been," she says. "It's nice to have the freedom to pop down to the shops in your track suit bottoms and live quite normally and not have to be a polished movie star all the time."

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